DELAWARE TWP. — An opossum that bit a woman reaching into a plastic bag filled with dog food has been destroyed and sent for rabies testing. The bag and the wild animal were in her kitchen pantry.

The opossum was a mother with a number of newborns in her pouch and was likely just acting defensively, county Public Health Services Division head Tadhgh Rainey said on May 28.

It was still sent off for testing, he said, and results are expected by week's end.

The likelihood of rabies in opossums is slight. Of 6,859 confirmed cases of rabid animals over the past 24 years, the New Jersey Department of Health lists four opossums, compared to 1,064 skunks and 409 cats.

Over that time, there have been more confirmed rabid otters — 5 — and domestic rabbits — 9.

The puzzle, township Animal Control Officer Nate Barson said, is how the opossum "somehow made its way into the home, into the kitchen, into the pantry and into the bag of food without someone seeing it."

Delaware Township Municipal Building

The young were taken to the Mercer County Wildlife Center. In such cases, Barson said the babies are placed in an incubator to "see if they could be saved."

In this instance, he wasn't sure if they were old enough to survive without their mother. An opossum can hold up to 13 young in her pouch. The young opossums detach from their mother's teats and leave the pouch between 70 and 125 days after their birth.

Patrolman James Dolbier was called at 11:39 p.m. on May 23 by Jean Marie Mitchell to her home on Raven Rock Road. Police said she refused medical treatment at the scene after saying the wound was minor and that she had cleansed it.

Officials will notify her about the results of the rabies test on the opossum.

Barson has two general pieces of advice for pet owners and feeding: "Keep your pet food in a sealed, clear container. It keeps pests out and reduces the smell that would attract animals. If you feed animals outside, throw the food away or take it all in before dusk, so none is out at night" when wild animals are most active.

And, of course, "make sure cats and dogs are vaccinated."

Last year, confirmed cases of rabies were found in every county in New Jersey. Just last week, Barson said, a bat he sent for testing came back positive for rabies. The bat was found outside a West Amwell Township home and "may have" come in contact with a woman, even though he said it was "no longer able to fly."

The Humane Society of the United States posts information on rabies. It says opossums are "amazingly resistant to rabies. Hissing, drooling, and swaying are part of the opossum's bluff routine.

"It is intended to scare away potential predators, yet it looks just like rabies and is the reason people can be convinced they’re seeing 'rabid opossums' when they’re not."